My Rottweiler's Favorite Toy, and One She is Afraid Of

Lola, our six-year-old Rottweiler, carries her blue toy with her everywhere. She may drop it anywhere in the house but pretty soon she comes and gets it again. First thing in the morning, when we open the bedroom door, she prances in with it clenched in her large jaws. Some days she will let me play with it then, while other mornings she eludes my hand.

The toy that Lola is afraid of has been relegated to the dog yard. Now and then another dog visiting on a playdate will shove it around. We should have given it to that border collie.

I'll write more about these two toys, but as long as I am thinking about dog toys, I'll tell you about the rope toys she demolishes on a regular basis, about her several Kongs, and another we tried. You'll know Lola better after all this! Do you have a dog? If so, does it have a favorite toy? There will be a spot for you to comment further down.

Photo credits: All photos with Lola in them were taken by my husband, Kelly Hart.

Lola can go days without picking up her rope toy, though it was her favorite before the blue arrived some months ago. That ball comes out maybe once a week.

This photo was taken shortly after the other two above here... they all were taken within about an hour of each other. Here, she went back into her crate, lay down, and then dropped her toy close by.

We got that crate when she was a puppy of 6 or 8 months old, which is when we got her. She loves it. Nowadays we rarely close the gate but she doesn't mind if we do. I do always give her a Kong if there is a reason to close her in. Most commonly, that is when I am trimming the toenails of LarryDog, our older mixed-breed dog, and I don't want Lola lurking right there to get the treats I give out generously at that time. (When it's Lola's turn for her nails to be done, I close LarryDog in our bedroom with another treat.)

I've learned so much since Lola came into our lives.

I just want to say that until we had the chance to get Lola, I didn't realize what great dogs Rottweilers often are. I had known a couple of really nice ones, and Lola falls into that category as well.

She is gentle, she is loving, she is patient. Yes, she barks when someone comes to the door, but she is not aggressive. She is one of the best dogs I have ever had.

Many Rotties are like that. Not all of course, but many!

I don't actually buy that many dog toys, but I did get all the ones on this list, and I got them at Amazon. I'm pretty frugal and I like the toys to last. The two Kongs are still going strong... I wouldn't expect it of the rope toys... and we did have a lot of fun with the last one before giving it away to a dog with a gentler bite.

This is a video I made to show how to train a dog to wash its face, using a dab of honey. There's not much sound at first, sorry!

I started this site back in 2003 and it has hundreds of pages now. I have mostly learned by reading and watching DVDs from great trainers such as Dr. Ian Dunbar, Karen Pryor, Patricia McConnell, and others. I'm not a professional dog trainer myself, but I began writing about dogs when I was about eight.

I think a few more dabs of peanut butter are called for! I have found that food works well to help dogs get over fears. So why didn't I think of doing this before?

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